NICE 'traffic light' guidance helps to assess child fever.(Brief article)

GPs should use a 'traffic light' system for assessing children with fever, according to guidance issued by NICE this week.

Between 20 and 40 per cent of parents of under-fives seek healthcare for their children's feverish illnesses each year in England and Wales. But there was previously no national guidance on the management of fever.

The NICE guidance aims to reduce the number of hospital admissions for fever, the second most common reason for a child being admitted to hospital, by providing a practical tool to assess fever symptoms.

The guidance states that measurements of body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate and capillary refill should …